US election 2024 live: Donald Trump wins North Carolina, first crucial swing state of the night; Kamala Harris carries California and New Mexico | US elections 2024

Key events

Harris wins Virginia

Kamala Harris has won Virginia and its 13 electoral votes, the Associated Press Reports.

Virginia is another state that has trended blue lately, but nonetheless received a visit from Donald Trump last week – fruitlessly, as it turned out.

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Cruz re-elected in Texas, lowering Democrats’ odds of keeping Senate

Republican Ted Cruz has been re-elected to the Senate in Texas, the Associated Press reports.

The party was hoping that a victory by congressman Colin Allred against the incumbent, who gained notoriety for vacationing in Cancún as a deadly cold spell struck the state, could help them keep their 51- seat majority. But Texas is a reliably Republican state, and voters there have given Cruz another six years in the office.

It’s another blow to Democrats’ hopes of keeping the majority, after losing seats in West Virginia and Ohio earlier this evening.

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Missouri passes abortion rights ballot measure

Carter Sherman

Missouri voters approved a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights into the state constitution, setting the state up to overturn its near-total abortion ban – a first in the US post-Roe v Wade.

The measure protects the right to abortion up until fetal viability, or about 24 weeks of pregnancy. Its success in a ruby-red state is a stunning repudiation of the US supreme court’s 2022 overturning of Roe as well as a signal of just how powerful the issue of abortion has become in US politics.

The passage of the Missouri measure does not, however, automatically overturn the state’s ban. Abortion rights supporters must first pursue litigation or legislation to officially strike down restrictions.

A total of 10 states are voting on abortion ballot measures on Tuesday. Maryland, Colorado, and New York have all passed measures to expand protections for abortion rights while Florida’s measure fell short of the 60% it needed to pass. That failure left the state’s six-week abortion ban in place.

Three other states still have the chance to vote to overturn abortion bans. Results are forthcoming.

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Updated at 23.42 EST

Harris wins New Mexico

Kamala Harris has won New Mexico, the Associated Press reports, dashing the Donald Trump campaign’s hopes of a surprise victory in the south-western state.

New Mexico has typically voted Democratic in recent elections, but Trump campaigned there last week, hoping to flip it to his side. He was not successful, and Harris has won its five electoral votes.

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Updated at 23.39 EST

Hugo Lowell

Former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon tells me: “We’ve got this.”

Some Trump allies have started to filter into the Palm Beach convention center where the campaign watch party is taking place, which may be an indication that Trump may appear tonight.

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Updated at 23.34 EST

GOP flips Senate seat in Ohio, imperiling Democratic majority

Republican Bernie Moreno has defeated Democratic senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio, the Associated Press reports, likely giving the GOP the majority in the chamber.

It is the second seat Democrats have lost tonight, after Republican Jim Justice won the seat held by retiring independent Joe Manchin in West Virginia. Democrats will need surprise victories in Montana and Texas and a victory by Kamala Harris to keep control of Congress’s upper chamber.

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Harris wins Oregon

Kamala Harris has won Oregon, the Associated Press reports, completing a sweep of the west coast’s Democratic strongholds.

She picks up eight electoral votes from the state in a victory that was expected, given its strong Democratic tilt.

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Donald Trump’s victory in North Carolina is the latest instance of Democrats falling short in a state that always winds up being just out of reach.

No Democrat has won its electoral votes since Barack Obama in 2008, but Kamala Harris’s campaign believed they might have a chance this year. Had they succeeded, it would have padded her margins, though she still would have had to capture several other swing states like Pennsylvania, Arizona or Georgia to take the White House.

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Trump wins North Carolina

Donald Trump has won North Carolina, the Associated Press reports, picking up his first of the seven swing states expected to decide the election.

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Sam Levine

Ohio voters have rejected a ballot measure that would have stripped lawmakers of their ability to draw electoral districts, a major blow to curb the practice of extreme partisan gerrymandering, Decision Desk HQ is projecting.

The panel would have given redistricting power to a panel of 15 citizens – Democrats, Republicans, and independents to draw district lines. Citizens placed it on the ballot after the Ohio supreme court struck down maps drawn by Republicans seven times. Republicans implemented their maps anyway after control of the court changed.

Republicans successfully distorted the ballot language to make it confusing. They were able to approve language that said the measure would have required the panel to gerrymander districts. In reality, the measure would have outlawed gerrymandering. The news site Bolts reported that Ohio voters were confused about the measure.

The defeat is a major win for Republicans, who control the Ohio state house and have a majority in the state’s congressional delegation.

“Ohio voters spoke loudly and clearly on Issue 1. Ohio’s constitution is not for sale to foreign billionaires and out of state leftwing special interest groups,” Bob Paduchik, senior adviser to Ohio Works, said in a statement.

“Despite Democrats’ best efforts to deceive Ohioans into changing our constitution and rigging elections in their favor, the truth has carried the day. We are grateful to our elected Republican leaders, the Ohio Republican party, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Manufacturers Association and many others that took a stand to protect representational democracy.”

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Updated at 23.21 EST

Californians send Democrat Adam Schiff to the Senate

Democratic congressman Adam Schiff will be California’s next senator, taking the seat occupied for more than 30 years by Dianne Feinstein, who died last year.

Schiff, a major antagonist of Donald Trump and a leader of his first impeachment, takes over from Laphonza Butler, who was appointed to the seat after Feinstein’s death, but did not stand for a full term. Here’s more about Schiff:

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Updated at 23.17 EST

Colorado adopts abortion rights ballot measure

Carter Sherman

Colorado has passed a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution.

The measure, which needed to secure 55% of the vote to pass, blocks Colorado’s state government from denying, impeding or discriminating against individuals’ “right to abortion”.

There is currently no gestational limit on the right to abortion in deep-blue Colorado, which has become a sanctuary for people fleeing abortion bans.

A total of 10 states are also voting on abortion ballot measures on Tuesday. Maryland and New York passed measures to expand protections for abortion rights while Florida’s measure fell short of the 60% supermajority it needed to pass. Had it succeeded, the Florida initiative would have paved the way for the state to overturn its six-week abortion ban.

Four other states still have the chance to vote to overturn abortion bans. Results are forthcoming.

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Harris wins California and Washington; Trump carries Idaho

Kamala Harris has won her home state of California, as well as Washington state, while Donald Trump has picked up Idaho, the Associated Press reports.

The two states give Harris a combined 66 electoral votes, while Idaho gives Trump four electoral votes. Oregon, the other state where polls just closed, has not yet been called.

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Updated at 23.05 EST

Polls close in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho

Polls have just closed in four west coast states that should give Kamala Harris a slew of electoral votes.

The most-populous state California, along with Oregon and Washington, are all reliably Democratic, and expected to be easy pick ups for the vice-president. Idaho, by contrast, is strongly Republican, and Donald Trump is almost certain to win its electoral votes.

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